Album Review | Scuare – Alphabet Soup

This album was released on October 25th in 2013. Scuare is one half of the duo …&more… I reviewed their debut album back in September of 2017. Before listening to this one I still wasn’t that familiar with him as an artist; I was hoping to get a better idea of who he is with this album so I could form a stronger opinion.

Mission accomplished. The first thing I noticed was that the sound quality is thankfully far better than that of …&more…’s debut album. I could actually understand what Scuare was saying. The beat from Rupert! on track one was pretty nice, and the two verses from Scuare were cool too. The second track, One, is where things really started getting good. The beat from Tom Bombadil is dope. The percussion is much more fast paced than I was expecting, and Scuare’s flow was great.

I’m a rocket, not a plane
Watch me rock it all the same
From the cockpit I’ma drop it ’til I’m lost in all the fame
Self destruction on a track; kamikaze with a coffee buzz
An autobot; Optimus Scuare ex machina

He killed that verse. The song is really short tho. It’s under two minutes. It’s definitely more attention grabbing than the intro, but it just feels too short. It’s like more of an interlude than a full song. Half of the songs on the album are less than three minutes though. I can’t remember if Existence Is Existential was like that or not. I know the album as a whole was pretty short though. Anyway, the third song, Brick Walls, has “Hmm” listed as a feature, but I’m pretty sure that’s just no1mportant’s original stage name. I might be wrong tho. Anyway, it’s definitely a standout track for me. The production from Blacksheep! is really smooth, and the vocals on the hook are actually really fuckin’ good too. Scuare & no1mportant have really similar voices, so I couldn’t tell who that was on the first verse. I think it was Scuare tho. His flow is really dope. The second verse was great too. The production on Stasis is fucking awesome. The way the percussion transforms is kinda bizarre, but it works surprisingly well. Scuare’s flow is great too. It just feels a bit too short. The beat on Nexus is really trippy. It kinda reminds me of Clams Casino. What the fuck ever happened to him anyway? I feel like I haven’t seen his name in forever. Anyway, the percussion pattern switches up for the second verse, and it’s fucking awesome. Scuare’s flow fits perfectly over it too. It’s definitely another standout track for me. The production on Bass_ic is really fucking awesome too. I love how experimental almost every beat on the album sounds. Some of the lyrics are kinda hard to make out, but his flow glides over each instrumental effortlessly. I’m not crazy about Bass_ic’s hook, but it’s not really bad. The beat has a really dark, electronic vibe. The production from Blacksheep! on the single These Words is fucking fantastic. I love how smooth it sounds. It’s a much more accessible instrumental than that of the track it follows. It’s the longest song on the album, and it’s honestly one of the only ones that sounds completely finished. It sounds like there was a lot more effort put into it than any other track. The music video was actually pretty cool too. It always irritates me that independent artists with lower budgets come up with far more creative videos than the average mainstream rapper who just raps to the camera with models in the background.

His vocals on Gone Away are surprisingly decent. Just like with every other track, the production is really solid.

I’m paid to fuckin’ like you
I’m not like you, check the IQ
So step down off that stool and get the fuck up out my eye view
They say it’s for the birds, but that just means that I can fly through

I’m not crazy about the melody of the hook, but it’s not bad enough to ruin the song. At this point in the album, I was already surprised by how much I was enjoying everything. I didn’t like Existence Is Existential as much as I wanted to, but I didn’t really have any consistent gripes with this project aside from some of the tracks being a little too short. The rhyme schemes he uses on the second verse are crazy.

I spend my time in solitude
I will have no part of you
This Earth is not a home
You better take care or it will swallow you

His flow on General Lee is fucking awesome. It just sounds super precise. This dude can rap his ass off. The hook is pretty catchy too. He fucking killed that second verse too. Recursive has one of the weirdest beats I’ve ever heard in a Hip Hop song, but it’s dope. As always, Scuare’s flow is on point. The hook was decent. It’s just another good song. It’s not one of my favorites, but at the same time there’s not really anything wrong with it.

I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I wasn’t expecting it to be bad; I just wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. There’s not a single bad song on it. His flow is fantastic, and I loved the experimental production. Some of the tracks seemed a bit too short, but aside from that I can’t think of any consistent flaws. I guess there were some points where I couldn’t really make out what he was saying, but it was nowhere near as difficult as it was on the first …&more… album. This is a really great album. It’s dope. Shoutout to C.C. Munster for the recommendation.

Favorite song: General Lee
Least favorite song: Gone Away

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Published by DJ Focus

I am not a music expert. My reviews are completely subjective and should not sway anyone’s opinion on any musical project. I don’t grade albums based on how “good” they are objectively. The score they receive depends on how much I enjoy them personally.
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